Beneath The Surface

Act 34 - Harbinger of death

Normal text
Thinking
Onomatopoeia

Astaroth's POV
Astaroth was standing in the grassy plains of Ionia. Or what used to be grassy plains. Now it's just withered purplish grass and shrubs as far as the eye could see. Unworldly twisted columns erected in the field. There's not a single bird flying in the overcast sky. Not a single howl of wolves that were supposed to roam the area. The place was undoubtedly deserted with not a trace of life. A Void rift has opened. An especially large one, spanning across several hundred miles in all directions.

And yet, the one thing Astaroth feared most wasn't the ominous silence but the tense atmosphere. Kaisa and her were standing at arm's length. Not too far such that they can't hear each other. Not too close such that they could touch each other. Just the right distance for two awkward people who didn't know what to say. They were still sort of at odds with each other(?). They hadn't officially made up or called off the cold war. It's more of a life-and-death scenario that forced Kaisa to stop ignoring the cooked Astaroth. So now that the crisis was over, both of them didn't know how to treat each other anymore.

To be honest, Astaroth still couldn't understand why the rabbit was so rigid and stubborn when it came to Void-related matters. She just refused to yield. And it's driving Astaroth insane. She doesn't get what's the caveat here. Didn't she love humanity and whatnot? Then why wasn't she jumping onboard the working-with-your-enemy plan??? Cooperating with Bel'Veth was the only correct answer here. It was the most obvious one. If feeble humans already had problems dealing with Rek'Sai, the Void's equivalent of a mad dog, what were their chances against an empress??? They're just ants in front of the whole Void colony. So if humanity wanted to avoid extinction for a few more months, the only way was to form a temporary alliance with that sentient mutated fish.

That's what Astaroth had reasonably concluded but the obstinate rabbit had other ideas. She refused to work with the species which had razed down her village. In other words, it's not a matter of practicality but principle. Her dignity was stopping her from being flexible, from being realistic. She's stubbornly holding onto her beliefs and faith. Even if it meant that the path she chose had little to no chance of succeeding. The delusional Kaisa would rather die than have anything to do with the Void. And the thought of this was grating Astaroth's patience like no other. She never liked headstrong morons. All the dignity and honour rambles irked her. Those were just useless ideals that would never work in this cruel pragmatic reality. And yet, her little rabbit was at the forefront of all this foolishness. Astaroth hated it with every fibre of her being. Why must the dumb little rabbit be so suicidal???

Staring blankly into the distance, the silence was palpable. Eventually, the deserted area started populating again. Earth ruptured as more and more voidlings crawled up to the surface. Thankfully, their insufferable shrieks helped fill the haunting emptiness in the air.

From out of nowhere, Kaisa suddenly wanted to chat, "Um... So... Astaroth—"

Astaroth's eyelids twitched and she unintentionally snapped, "Don't call me that. I hate that name."

There was another moment of silence before the rabbit asked cautiously, "So... Asta?"

"Anything."

"Then... Asta, I... um..."

Her usual confidence on the battlefield faded. Replaced by uncharacteristic nervousness and anxiety.

Astaroth sighed and decided to end everyone's misery, "No need to apologise."

The rabbit's shoulders jolted in fright.

Realising that her words might have been misunderstood as a curt attempt to cut off ties, she hurriedly added, "Let's just... not talk about that night. Makes it easier for you and me. We'll just pretend nothing happened. And that there's no cold war."